There was just a smidgen of hope this week in good government circles that Gov. Pat McCrory would summon up a shred of courage and class and do what’s right by vetoing House Bill 17 from last week’s kangaroo special legislative session — the measure that, among other things, decimates a good deal of gubernatorial power for his successors.

As was noted in this space yesterday, the bill is opposed by some important conservative voices and must be seen — even if one isn’t sure about all of the substantive details — as the product of an absurdly rushed and badly flawed process. Surely, McCrory — a man who has sued the General Assembly over gubernatorial prerogatives not as important as the ones contained in this legislation — would at least decline to sign it and leave the decision to his successor, who takes office in two weeks.

Sadly, however, it was not to be. Faced with a challenging political moment that provided him with one last real chance to play the role of a statesman who would stand up to the bullies down the street at the Legislative Building in order to benefit the common good, McCrory did what he has almost always done in such situations; he blinked and caved in.

What’s more, in keeping with the churlish and whiny manner that has become his trademark, the Guv waited a few days (he signed the other major bill from the special session in a matter of minutes) and then, just when caring and thinking people’s hopes were starting to rise, dashed them with a bizarre, offensive and downright ridiculous statement in which he complained about “misleading TV ads” and “paid protesters.”

It was, in sum, a fitting conclusion to dreadful four years in office for a man who was never up to the job and never tired of blaming others for the problems that were the product of his own shortcomings. Come to think of it, no wonder McCrory appears to be under serious consideration for some kind of job in the Trump administration — with a record like his, McCrory ought to fit in perfectly working for the new Tweeter-in-Chief.

With the General Assembly returning for yet another special session this week on the subject of the execrable HB2, perhaps McCrory will figure out a way to put a double exclamation point on the end of his term. Stay tuned.

Minutes after Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday signed a controversial bill mandating stiff new limits on the powers of Gov.-elect Roy Cooper and the State Board of Education—a panel composed of gubernatorial appointees—state board Chairman Bill Cobey vowed his board would meet with their attorneys to consider their response.

“I don’t want to pass judgment on the governor,” said Cobey, a Republican appointee of McCrory. “But it’s still unconstitutional in my opinion.”

The sweeping legislation was filed and speedily approved with little public vetting in a surprise special session of the legislature last week, called shortly after lawmakers wrapped work on a hurricane relief bill.

Johnson, a Winston-Salem Republican, was a surprise victor over longtime Democratic Superintendent June Atkinson on Election Day.

Cobey said Monday night that he believes “most” of the law’s provisions relating to public schools are unconstitutional. And while he did not guarantee legal action, the state board is slated to hold a special session Tuesday morning to weigh their answer.

Charters are publicly-funded schools granted greater flexibility in staffing and curriculum than their traditional school counterparts.

Among the provisions of the new law, management of the state’s Office of Charter Schools would be shuttled from the State Board of Education to Johnson. The law will also prohibit state board members from having any of its sitting members on the Charter School Advisory Board, which makes recommendations to the state board on charter applications.

The charter school board, for now, includes state board member Becky Taylor, who was among the board members who voted against a few charter applications in August.

On Thursday night, Cobey continued to defend that vote, arguing that his board was simply “doing our job.”

“There are some people out there who think we should approve everything that comes to us,” said Cobey. “But there are a lot of tax dollars tied up in this. I personally can’t have that on my conscience.”

Check back with Policy Watch Tuesday for updates on this pivotal state board meeting.

In a press release late Monday Gov. Pat McCrory said he would sign N.C. House Bill 17 – the bill that strips incoming governor Roy Cooper of a number of powers and appointments McCrory enjoyed while in office.

But one of the stand-out statements in the release had nothing to do with HB17. In listing a number of ways he was working behind-the-scenes to protect the separation of powers during last week’s two special sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly, McCrory wrote:

“I also successfully worked to deter any efforts to expand the composition of our Supreme Court.”

For weeks leading up to the special session, there were rumors the Republican majority would try to expand the N.C. Supreme Court and have McCrory appoint conservative judges to avoid the Democratic majority that was the result of November’s election.

Governor Pat McCrory will sign N.C. House Bill 17, stripping incoming Gov. Roy Cooper of a number of powers and appointments.

McCrory made the announcement late Monday in a prepared statement.

“Last week, I was extremely proud of our bipartisan effort to enact much needed relief to help our citizens recovering from Hurricane Matthew.

“I also signed legislation to reorganize a broken election process, bringing stronger ethics and a fair and transparent system to ensure consistent application of rules and procedures across our state.

“During the past week as the legislature called themselves back into session, I was actively working as your governor to protect the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government. Examples include discouraging proposed legislation moving major departments including Information Technology and Commerce outside of the governor’s authority. I also successfully worked to deter any efforts to expand the composition of our Supreme Court.

“Due to these efforts, I have come to realize that the current changes to executive authority in House Bill 17 have been greatly exaggerated by misleading TV ads, paid protesters and state and national media outlets.

“This bill enhances state employee policies, transfers school safety programs to the education department, allows our state legislature to make university trustee appointments, and clarifies the roles and organizational structure of the superintendent of public instruction and board of education – hardly extreme changes.

“My major disagreement with this bill is requiring confirmation of cabinet secretaries. This is wrong and short-sighted and needs to be resolved through the leadership skills of the governor-elect working with the legislature beginning in January. With this in mind, I will sign House Bill 17.”

North Carolina’s incoming secretary of public education—Winston-Salem Republican Mark Johnson—is reportedly celebrating last week’s highly controversial move by state lawmakers to shift powers from the State Board of Education to his office.

While he didn’t respond to questions for comment on the bill from his local paper, the Winston-Salem Journalreports that the corporate attorney, who boasts two years of experience teaching at West Charlotte High in Charlotte, is supportive of House Bill 17.

The GOP-sponsored bill, which predominantly limits the powers of new Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper, has been approved by both the state House and Senate and has been forwarded to Gov. Pat McCrory’s office for signature.

McCrory, who has fought lawmakers in court over the governor’s powers, has not indicated whether he will support the measure, but in the meantime, Johnson seems pleased with the move.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

Among the provisions limiting the power of Gov.-elect Roy Cooper, House Bill 17 strips power over the state’s vast public education system from State Board of Education and transfers it to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Starting in January, that will be Johnson. The 33-year-old lawyer was two years into his first term on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education when he beat incumbent June Atkinson, a 40-year veteran of DPI. The Democrat was seeking her fourth-term. Johnson’s previous education experience includes two years in Teach For America, where he taught at West Charlotte High School.

“HB 17 will help usher in an era of greater transparency at DPI by eliminating the more confusing aspects of the relationship between the N.C. superintendent and the N.C. Board of Education,” Johnson said.

“This will better serve constituents visiting Raleigh as our working relationship will be more similar to how local superintendents and their respective boards of education work together across North Carolina.”

HB17 would actually give the State Board of Education considerably less oversight of Johnson’s decisions at the Department of Public Instruction, though, than Johnson had as a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education over the district’s superintendent.

One example: hiring and firing.

HB 17 gives the state superintendent control over appointments of administrative and supervisory personnel to the staff of DPI and the state board, save four positions that the state board will continue to appoint.